Leyla Amir began her journey into music and dance as a young child. Her musical repertoire of study has included piano, accordion, flute, guitar, voice, and later tabla and sagat.   In 1971 the lure of the Middle Eastern music pulled her into the "dance".  She became a quick study with the dance movements and her interpretation of the music and by 1972 was performing professionally in local Arabic nightclubs in the USA.

In 1974 she opened her dance studio "Egyptian Moods" and founded her troupe "El Masri Dancers". In 1976 she first traveled to Egypt  and had the incredible opportunity to study all the big names at the time.... first hand....  Sohair Zeki, Nagwa Fouad, FiFi Abdo, Lucy and Isa Sherif, just to name a few, along with the "unknown teachers of dance" that were found on the famed street for entertainers  "Mohamed Ali Street ", learning with the technique know as the "follow me style". She eventually moved on to Chicago, where, with her husband, they owned several Arabic nightclubs. 

In 1981, Leyla fulfilled her dream of performing professionally in Egypt. She became  one of  the first recorded American dancers to be licensed to dance with a 5 star rating, in Egypt's major 5 star hotels, weddings, high end night clubs of Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout Egypt.  This in essence opened the door of acceptance for the numerous foreign dancers who now enjoy careers in Egypt. 

Her first "gig" was performing for the Royal Family of the Shah of Iran at a private showing in the night club at the then Holiday Inn Pyramids.  She continued to perform in Egypt on a professional level with several different contracts in hotels and clubs until 1990.

Dancing on the stages of Egypt pushed her style to a new level, incorporating the Egyptian technique of interpreting music thru dance, into her fiery and emotional performance.                                                              

Although she loves all dance forms, she has chosen only to "specialize" in performance and instruction of Egyptian Raks Sharqi.  She fuses updated Modern Cairo styling with her "classical style" from her early years, for an entertaining performance.

Her love of the Egyptian music and dance is evident in her lyrical, energetic and entertaining, yet elegant, interpretation of the music from Classical Oriental, Modern Raks Sharqi, Beledi, Shaabi and Traditional styles.

While living and performing in Egypt, Leyla's audiences have included Middle Eastern Royalty, Movie Stars, and some of the top officials of the Egyptian Government, just to name a few.

Her "Saidi" dance was filmed and broadcast on Egyptian T.V. from the Mena House and she has appeared in numerous magazine publications in Egypt, including having her portrait painted for the front cover of Sabah el Kheir, a still popular major magazine distributed throughout the entire Middle East and USA.

Besides her performances, Leyla has done Egyptian TV commercials and stage plays in Cairo and aspired for a movie contract involving her dancing.

Leyla's world travels have taken her to Turkey, Morocco, Greece, Arab Emirates, Jordon, France, Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, Hungary, Holland, Mexico, Malaysia, Lebanon, Syria and UK with always more on the horizon.

Her experiences of performing in Egypt infused a vast knowledge of the Egyptian Dance that she shares today with students in her classes, workshops and performances.

She teaches the Egyptian classical, modern and traditional movements, choreographed and free-style.

Her teaching places a strong emphasis on emotion and presentation, technique of movement and progression to the music with in the style, along with correct costuming and music choice for the style. 

Leyla continues to perform and teach on request, in the USA, Internationally and Egypt, passing on her over 40 years of knowledge in the dance world, spending part of her year in Egypt and part in the USA. http://www.leylaamir.com/

Leyla also promotes her "Signature" Dancers Dream Tours to Egypt. Along with the "Dancers Delight" NGFestival Program at http://www.dreamtourstoegypt.com/   She, along with her husband own one of the oldest licensed original Egyptian owned tour companies in Egypt,(http://www.egyptnationaltours.biz/)  with an office in Cairo and a base in the USA.  One of the first to provide dancers with specialized tours, they also offer dancers with tour sponsorship opportunities, dance classes, sightseeing, education in history and culture, and have their Dreams come true in the............. "Motherland of Oriental Dance".